Major U.S. Airlines Projected to Report Record Revenue for 3rd Quarter

By the end of this week, AirlineFinancials.com LLC is projecting the seven largest US airlines will have collectively reported $1.8 billion in profits from $36.9 billion in revenue for the recent 3rd quarter. This will be a record for 3rd quarter revenue and the 3rd consecutive year of Q3 profits.For full year 2012, we project these seven airlines will collectively report $4.2 billion in profits from a record $140 billion in revenues -- a paltry 3% profit margin --. For the first time since the 1990's, the industry will have annual profits three years in a row.Individual airline projections for third quarter 2012-United (NYSE: UAL) - $463 million profit from 9.9 billion revenueDelta (NYSE: DAL) - $797 million profit from $10 billion revenueAmerican (AAMRQ) - $110 million profit from $6.4 billion revenue**Southwest (NYSE: LUV) - $ 97 million profit from $4.3 billion revenue**US Airways (NYSE: LCC) - $157 million profit from $3.6 billion revenueJetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU) - $ 53 million profit from $1.3 billion revenueAlaska (NYSE: ALK) - $162 million profit from $1.3 billion revenue*Projections exclude special items and one-time charges** Reported last weekAlaska and Delta had the strongest 3rd quarter performance while American and Southwest turned in the weakest.Specific to American Airlines and their bankruptcy reorganization: AirlineFinancials.com believes there is a 70% chance that US Airways management will be successful in acquiring American within the bankruptcy. If American management successfully exits bankruptcy as a stand-a-lone carrier, we believe it is inevitable American and US Airways will merge together.____________________________________________________________AirlineFinancials.com LLC is a globally recognized company that provides airline industry data, analysis and consulting services